


Promise

by omiomus



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Fluff, Friendship, KageHina - Freeform, only if you want it to be, only kazuyo tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:00:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28182054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/omiomus/pseuds/omiomus
Summary: That Hinata… what an idiot.Even as he thought this, he hoped that this feeling, this feeling that was so akin to euphoria, would stay, keep bubbling under his skin and keep him afloat for as long as he can play.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou & Kageyama Tobio, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio
Kudos: 2





	Promise

In simple terms, Kageyama was a bit of an airhead when it came to properly making connections with other people. One of his most meaningful relationships stemmed from a brazen declaration of rivalry from a young volleyball amateur in the name of Hinata Shoyou. The rest is history. 

Actually, maybe not? Kageyama often had difficulty making friends; people mistook him for a pompous asshole because of his (often) suffocating drive to play better volleyball. He wasn’t entirely at fault for this behaviour, those in close proximity just  _ didn’t  _ take the time to uncover the layers beneath his attitude, thought that it’s too cumbersome—Kageyama’s too much of a stick in the mud to have an entire personality just bubbling under that perpetual frown. It was like that for both Kindaichi and Kunimi, who saw the way Kageyama become more and more domineering, the way he slowly drove himself mad with his need for more speed and skill, asking too much of his teammates who didn’t have the same kind of passion for volleyball. They’d seen the way his frown deepened when his demands weren’t met. They’d also seen that one time when Tobio’s expression scrunched in on itself, the way he lowered his head (as if he could not stand being seen), the way he tried not to sniffle too loudly when he’d remembered that Kazuyo-san (oh Kazuyo-san) had gone and left him with a promise that seemed impossible to fulfill. Kageyama had been so lost then, didn’t know how to handle the death of his only bestfriend, didn’t know how to deal with the emptiness that persisted in every part of his being, didn’t know where to pour all the sadness and misery and bitterness and above all, the feeling of being desolate and forsaken. 

Both Kindaichi and Kunimi knew this, had tried to appease his demands at first, understood that sometimes you can’t reason with a person who’s been abandoned by a loved one. However, they didn’t last all that long, what with Kageyama acting so arrogant and tyrannical. They were no subjects to be lorded over so of course they couldn’t put up with it. They’d been cruel,  _ so cruel _ , to him at the most crucial moment _ , leaving  _ him setting a ball for no one.  _ Leaving him.  _ People left him  _ again.  _ Why was that? He’d been an asshole but he was also mourning. His two teammates knew this very well, but had chosen to abandon him anyway; they were still children after all. Still hadn’t understood how deep the hurt ran in Kageyama. An inkling of it maybe, but not a full understanding. It only made sense that Kindaichi felt especially broken up about it after seeing how Kageyama acted during their first official high school game. He’d wondered, thought it over and over again in his head, if there was perhaps something that he could’ve done to alleviate Kageyama’s pain, that maybe if he tried harder back then, maybe Kageyama wouldn’t have driven himself to even more isolation. Still, he was a child who didn’t know better, a child who wanted to put his own needs first because trying to fix or help someone like Kageyama was too difficult. How could he even try to console him when he himself had never lost anyone like that? It had gotten to him, seeing Kageyama so carefree, more carefree than he’d probably seen him since losing his grandfather. It hadn’t even been that long since their fallout, a mere  _ few months,  _ and it felt like a punch to gut when Kageyama looked like he was thoroughly enjoying himself playing some nice volleyball. 

It had been the same for Kageyama, getting particularly rattled by the sight of Kunimi’s smile. He’d gotten it into his head that Kunimi had no perception of having fun, no matter how ironic this was coming from Kageyama (who had no concept of fun other than volleyball). So seeing Kunimi generously handing out smiles and high fives with Aoba Johsai was like a slap to face after he’d tch'ed his way out of every little comment that Kageyama made about his performance. As the team captain and official setter of Kitagawa Daichi, he hadn’t been able to pull out that kind of reaction from Kunimi  _ or  _ Kindaichi, or maybe he did when they were much younger, when his mind hadn’t been so muddled by the loss of Kazuyo-san. But now, he doesn’t remember there being a time when the two had looked like they genuinely enjoyed playing volleyball with him; his memories of his time in middle school has become convoluted by the never ending dissatisfaction of playing with his teammates and forgetting how it was like to have  _ fun.  _

He was so wrapped in trying to find meaning in Kazuyo-san’s promise, “If you get real good, somebody even better will come find you,” trying to find the meaning in his middle school teammates that he couldn’t tell leadership and dictatorship apart from each other. He just… wanted some semblance of joy or excitement, wanted to feel alive again, wanted to feel that same exhilarating sensation in every part of his body, like he used to when Kazuyo-san was still strong enough to watch every single one of his games. He just wanted to keep that promise alive, keep it going, breathe life into it, because if he didn’t, then he’d lose the one thing that his guardian had left for him to find. 

Maybe it was a necessary heartbreak, losing his teammates like that, to be abandoned again, in order to open his eyes to the person he’d become. However, it only made him afraid, traumatized him even more, left him feeling like there was perhaps nobody who could match his fervent passion for volleyball. Until that brazen, snot-nosed, stupid looking tangerine head bullheadedly declared that he would defeat Kageyama no matter what it took, despite being an absolute amateur. Hinata Shoyou, at the young age of 13, had poured gasoline under Kageyama’s burning passion, leaving him with a fervent shiver deep in his bones. This… complete  _ noob  _ had challenged him with such earnest eyes, such a genuine look of determination. He, who’d drooled on a volleyball since he was a newborn and then played with it as soon as he was able, was being challenged by this blundering idiot who didn’t have a single clue of what to do with himself other than to sniff loudly while he threw that completely unbridled ambition at him. What other choice did Kageyama have, other than to accept his declaration with an invigoration he hadn’t felt in so long? What choice did he have when he was challenged with such a fervid confession of rivalry? 

Weeks after that encounter, Kageyama would sometimes remember the look in Hinata’s eyes and would shiver with a slight upwards pull of his mouth. Miwa, who sometimes hung around Tobio in their Miyagi home, would cease her movements at the sight of her brother’s expression. The sight of her still narrow shouldered little brother, hunched over his volley-journal, with an expression so…  _ alive… _ had rattled something in her and she’d suddenly thought:  _ He’ll be alright,  _ with a sigh of relief that came deep within her being. She’d been afraid to leave him alone again, afraid to go back to Tokyo, because the sight of her brother’s lonely back dug into her conscience. She knew that him and Kazuyo-san had something profound, a relationship that cannot be replaced and consoled by a sister who turned her back on volleyball for some measly reason of not wanting to cut her hair. Though Kazuyo-san explicitly said that it wasn’t stupid reason, she still thought back to it sometimes, feels some sort of humiliation grip her, and then just as quickly, she discards it and tells herself that sometimes you don’t need some deep-rooted reason to quit at something. That’s just how life was sometimes. Still, seeing Kageyama teeming with life gave her a kind of consolation she didn’t know she needed. 

That confession of rivalry had made its mark in Kageyama forever, took it with him wherever he went and whoever he played with, reminded him of Kazuyo-san’s promise to him as doe-eyed child, and made him smile like a fool, many, many years after the fact—through his high school years and then bleeding into his professional career. That  _ Hinata… _ what an idiot. Even as he thought this, he hoped that this feeling, this feeling that was so akin to euphoria, would stay, keep bubbling under his skin, and keep him afloat for as long as he can play. 

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this months ago and read it again just now and thought I might share it,, I love kageyama so much, his character has so much depth ahhhhh I wish I could write an actual character analysis but im no good at writing things like that ,, I hope whoever reads this enjoyed it though ! <33333


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